A
long time seemed to pass.... Then I remembered I was on the floor,
bleeding internally, in a tiny room that would soon lose its door. But
there was someone standing beside me.

I didn't feel too disappointed at being beaten; I hadn't hoped for much
more than a breather, anyway. I wondered why this fellow had abandoned
his action station to hide there. The door was still shut. He must have
been there all along, but I hadn't seen him when I came in. He stood
over me, wearing greasy overalls, and grinned down at me. He raised his
hand. I was getting pretty indifferent to blows; I couldn't feel them.

The hand went up, the man straightened and held a fairly snappy salute.
"Sir," he said. "Space'n first class Thomas."

I didn't feel like laughing or cheering or anything else; I just took it
as it came.

"At ease, Thomas," I managed to say. "Why aren't you at your duty
station?" I went spinning off somewhere after that oration.

Thomas was squatting beside me now. "Cap'n, you're hurt, ain't you? I
was wonderin' why you was down here layin down in my 'Sposal station."

"A scratch," I said. I thought about it for a while. Thomas was doing
something about my chest. This was Thomas' disposal station. Thomas
owned it. I wondered if a fellow could make a living with such a small
place way out here, with just an occasional tourist coming by. I
wondered why I didn't send one of them for help; I needed help for some
reason....

"Cap'n, I been overhaulin' my converter units, I jist come in. How long
you been in here, Cap'n?" Thomas was worried about something.

I tried hard to think. I hadn't been here very long; just a few minutes.
I had come here to rest.... Then suddenly I was thinking clearly again.

* * * * *

Whatever Thomas was, he was apparently on my side, or at least neutral.
He didn't seem to be aware of the mutiny. I realized that he had bound
my chest tightly with strips of shirt; it felt better.

"What are you doing in here, Thomas?" I asked. "Don't you know we're in
action against a hostile ship?"

Thomas looked surprised. "This here's my action station, Cap'n," he
said. "I'm a Waste Recovery Technician, First Class, I keep the recovery
system operatin'."

"You just stay in here?" I asked.

"No, sir," Thomas said. "I check through the whole system. We got three
main disposal points and lots a little ones, an' I have to keep
everything operatin'. Otherwise this ship would